ILOILO CITY — The oil spill from a damaged power barge in this city have spread to coastal towns of Iloilo province and the island province of Guimaras.
“It is spreading,” said Donna Magno, director of the Iloilo City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (Iloilo City DRRMO).
Magno said in a Sunday phone interview bunker fuel has reached the coastal areas of Leganes, Dumangas and Oton towns that face the Iloilo Strait.
There are also has been sightings of bunker fuel in the Guimaras towns of Jordan and Buenavista, which face Iloilo City.
The oil spill was caused by Power Barge 102, which exploded last July 3 and tore a hole in its hull.
The power barge owned by AC Energy Corp., a subsidiary of the Ayala group, was carrying 251,000 liters of bunker fuel and not 200,000 liters as earlier reported.
Magno said that almost 180,000 liters of oil has been collected by a team led by the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) while AC Energy separately assured that additional equipment is arriving Sunday for the retrieval of the remaining bunker fuel and contain the spread. (Tara Yap)
